Neil Robinson

Registered

Not much help but it's possible. MTH did it on their gauge 1 Triplex and state the current production of gauge 1 Big Boys also have a "quillable" whistle. They even fit a small smoke unit to the whistle!

Last edited: 14 May 2017

Tony Walsham

Manufacturer of RCS Radio Control.

Not much help but it's possible. MTH did it on their gauge 1 Triplex and state the current production of gauge 1 Big Boys also have a "quillable" whistle. They even fit a small smoke unit to the whistle!

I know it could be done. I guess the real problem will be, only users with regular Digital Proportional R/C can take advantage of it. Not a very big market. There would have to be two ways of triggering a whistle sound to make it saleable to everyone. Future development just needs giving the sound people a bit of a nudge in the right direction.

GAP

G Scale trains, Lawn Bowls.

I know it could be done. I guess the real problem will be, only users with regular Digital Proportional R/C can take advantage of it. Not a very big market. There would have to be two ways of triggering a whistle sound to make it saleable to everyone. Future development just needs giving the sound people a bit of a nudge in the right direction.

Tony Walsham

Manufacturer of RCS Radio Control.

Essentially DP is where the output of the servo signal (or speed control) is proportional to the knob (or stick) position of the handpiece. Whilst all the well known brands of stick R/C must use compatible R/C, the servo commands from the Rx are the same no matter what the brand. The variable signal used to achieve speed and direction changes could also be used to vary the timing and pitch of a sound function. Just like it can be interpreted to make simple ON - OFF trigger functions.

Most R/C controls use much less useful pushbutton R/C to raise and lower speed and set direction.

Rhinochugger, Sorry I only just saw your question of a week ago. There is indeed an automatic mode for sounding the bell in addition to track magnets and the remote control. Use the mode control button 6, set it to four beeps. Then you can make the bell ring automatically when the loco is in motion up to a speed which you can set.

Regards Peter

M

Moonraker

Registered

Tony, if you can give me a function button which varies the receiver function output voltage in proportion to how hard the user is pressing the transmitter button then I will give you a quillable whistle.

MyLocoSound at £49 or A$89 will give the correct Shay sounds. Using a TV remote control, the chuff is adjustable to match the loco and is synchronised to the motor voltage and load. There is a good video of MyLocoSound in a Bachmann two truck Shay at

. The radio control used by Peter Spoerer is virtually identical to that used by Tony Walsham at RCS. Tony also sells lots of MyLocoSound, for both radio control and track power, and can give you good advice. MyLocoSound is not compatible with DCC.

The MyLocoSound whistle is adjustable in style, pitch and volume. You can trigger it, plus the bell, safety valve and "All aboard", manually using transmitter buttons on radio control.

On track power, the normal choice is to use the automatic sound modes. This causes the Westinghouse brake pump to sound automatically each time the loco is stationary. It also causes the bell to ring when the loco is moving below a user selected speed or when triggered by magnets under the track. The whistle can also be triggered by track magnets or by the remote control. It conforms to US whistle codes when starting and stopping and can sound the grade crossing sequence when triggered whilst in motion. A slight nudge on your speed controller will cause the safety valve to blow.

Have to say that in both of these cases the sound is great for chuffing and bell. Sadly the Whistle still dissapoints with the those Sound cards. But for the price they are great value and the operation via Viper and Peter's Controller looks great. I have used Peters Control for my Roundhouse Live Steamers and am not dissapointed.

Perhaps my wish to go all Battery will be granted if MyLoco Sound/Peter can up the anti with the Whistle. Going with real sampled whistles is going to be the only option for me I fear. But I would be happy to pay more for that option. JonD

Rhinochugger

Retired Oik

Rhinochugger, Sorry I only just saw your question of a week ago. There is indeed an automatic mode for sounding the bell in addition to track magnets and the remote control. Use the mode control button 6, set it to four beeps. Then you can make the bell ring automatically when the loco is in motion up to a speed which you can set.

chris m01

Registered

I've been larking around a bit today (well its been wet all morning). I have now added a variety of whistles to my Shay as can be seen in the video. I have put a big bluetooth speaker in the first wagon and yes I do need to build the load up higher so it can't be seen. I have put some whistle recordings on my phone so all I have to do is select the whistle I want and press play. I get a nice loud realistic whistle from wherever the loco is and it doesn't in any way interfere with the chuffing from the sound card. Very low tech and not to everyone's taste but a bit of a novelty to be used sparingly. After all I do like to speak with the neighbours.

Rhinochugger

Retired Oik

Have to say that in both of these cases the sound is great for chuffing and bell. Sadly the Whistle still dissapoints with the those Sound cards. But for the price they are great value and the operation via Viper and Peter's Controller looks great. I have used Peters Control for my Roundhouse Live Steamers and am not dissapointed.

Perhaps my wish to go all Battery will be granted if MyLoco Sound/Peter can up the anti with the Whistle. Going with real sampled whistles is going to be the only option for me I fear. But I would be happy to pay more for that option. JonD

Registered

chris m01

Registered

Just a bit more detail on the whistles. I start with a sound file of a loco. I then use an MP3 editor to just get the bit of sound I want. For this I downloaded a free package called audacity. I then drop this file onto my phone from my pc. As I have an iPhone I use iTunes for this. I have downloaded soundcue lite to my phone so I can just play the sound I want with one button. Soundcue looks like this

chris m01

Registered

I originally used this method on my N gauge layout. On this layout the speaker is under the baseboard rather than on the first wagon. The same speaker can do both jobs. For example these are a couple of my videos taken some years ago.

The sound from the videos was turned into MP3 files and then edited down to a length that fits my needs. By pressing the button on the screen at the right time I get this effect

chris m01

Registered

I hope it's ok to post another N gauge video here. This is my complete repertoire of sounds built up this way for my N gauge layout. The sound quality is much better in reality than on film, my iPhone has picked up far more sound from the models than you hear when you are there.

Going back to the G scale speaker in the first wagon, I can of course play music on the speaker so I can have my favourite tunes going round my garden with the train.

Mcvie

Registered

I'm sure you all have, but, if by chance you haven't, seen a real shay moving. Go to Youtube, they have some great footage of them, I love these engines. Thanks for all the incredibly valuable information.

dunnyrail

DOGS, Garden Railways, Steam Trains, Jive Dancing,

I've been larking around a bit today (well its been wet all morning). I have now added a variety of whistles to my Shay as can be seen in the video. I have put a big bluetooth speaker in the first wagon and yes I do need to build the load up higher so it can't be seen. I have put some whistle recordings on my phone so all I have to do is select the whistle I want and press play. I get a nice loud realistic whistle from wherever the loco is and it doesn't in any way interfere with the chuffing from the sound card. Very low tech and not to everyone's taste but a bit of a novelty to be used sparingly. After all I do like to speak with the neighbours.

Not quite sure how I missed this posting, but those Whistles are certainly the Dogs Speroids. I know it may be a little extra faffing but probably no worse than trying to remember and extended Function Button for the relevant Sound. It really brings your Shay to life and the Spoerer Card for the Chuffs is spot on.